


Sing Me to Sleep

by transcoranic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 18:59:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9839654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transcoranic/pseuds/transcoranic
Summary: Shiro is having a very bad night, Allura does her best to help.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Important disclaimer: I took some rather extreme liberties with the way PTSD works. This is not intended to portray real-world PTSD, and, mostly because Allura has no idea what to do, none of the intervention strategies described within are actually a good idea.

The corridor was dark, in night mode, lit only by the dim blue pillar lights on the walls, so the yellow fan of light spilling out of Shiro’s room was instantly obvious. The door was open, blocked by something. Allura began to walk more quickly, “Shiro?” He didn’t respond. She poked her head around the door, “Shir—“

Shiro stood in the center of the room, hand glowing white-hot. At the sound of Allura’s voice, he spun, face contorted with rage or pain or fear or maybe a little of all three. Allura was barely able to get out of the way as he lunged at her, a growl deep in his throat. Shiro was a talented fighter, trained to take on opponents larger and stronger than he was, but Allura was still strong enough to throw him across the room with one hand. Even so, she was struggling. She wanted to restrain Shiro without hurting him, but he didn't have similar inhibitions. They swung around the room, Allura trying to dodge Shiro’s frenzied blows. He seemed to be aiming for something larger than her, fists swinging wide. A chance blow grazed her cheek, slicing a burning line up her jaw.

"Get away from me, Galra scum!" Shiro swung at Allura again, panting, his face dripping with sweat. He swung again, and again. There! One of his blows swung wider than the others, leaving an opening. It was small, but she didn’t see any other options.

Allura spun around, grabbed Shiro's elbow, and twisted it behind his back, wincing as his shoulder popped out of its socket. She shoved him up against a wall and planted her knee firmly on the small of his back. She had to use both hands to restrain his bionic arm which, socket or no socket, seemed intent on doing as much damage as possible. It twisted, fingers flailing, carving deep scratches in the bulkheads of the castle.

Shiro screamed, first curses against Galra captors that existed only in his mind or memory, then incoherent babbling in what sounded like several languages, then terrible, wordless screams. 

Allura talked the whole time, sometimes Shiro's name over and over, sometimes anything that she could think of, just so he could hear a familiar voice. Her words rarely made more sense than Shiro's. In her mind, she was thousands of years away, remembering.   
\---  
In another room, in another life, a man and woman are locked in position, mirroring Allura and Shiro. The man struggles, his white hair in disarray. The woman is perfectly still, only her lips move as she repeats words without meaning, just for the sound of a voice. In a corner, a child tries to make herself smaller, frozen in terror, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. 

The woman begins to sing, an ancient song, passed unchanged through the generations, with a sad, lilting melody. The girl in the corner can't understand the words and she's too young to know the pain that those words convey, but feels their power as she joins in with her small voice.   
\---  
Ten thousand years later, Allura sings to Shiro. Her voice is strong and clear, the voice of a woman who knows what it's like to be alone in the universe. She sings for Shiro, for herself, for the trillions of sentient beings who lost their lives in this millennia-long war against the Galra. She sang for the little girl who, so long ago, cried and sang for a man who was not so different from Shiro. 

There was no way he could understand the Altean lyrics, but the song seemed to reach Shiro, wherever he was. He began to relax, the tension left his body slowly, reluctantly. His hand dimmed, then returned to its typical dull silver hue. Allura allowed her grip to loosen, shifting her hands to support Shiro, rather than to restrain him. 

The change was sudden. Shiro took a deep breath, let it out, and it was like he was an entirely different person. He stood up straight, suddenly, and Allura jumped back, surprised and prepared to defend herself. Shiro didn't attack, he glanced at his dislocated shoulder, walked to the door, grasped the frame, and jerked it back into its socket.

He went through a routine that he had obviously preformed many times before, checking his body for injuries, then sweeping his gaze around the room, probably checking to see whether he had broken anything. 

He froze when he saw Allura. "Did I hurt you?" He asked, an edge in his voice that Allura had never heard before. 

"No, I'm fine"

"What did you need?" 

Allura was surprised by the abrupt change of subject. "I wanted to see what you thought of that," she gestured toward the tablet, now lying on the floor. 

Shiro picked up the tablet and stared at the display, a look of intense concentration on his face, "you should send Pidge here two seconds earlier. I know it's tight, but they can make it." 

Allura glanced at the screen and nodded. 

"You should go check this with Coran," Shiro said. 

"Coran went to sleep about an hour ago."

"You should go check this with Coran," Shiro repeated. This time, Allura took the hint. 

Shiro collapsed on the bed, head in his hands. He got lucky this time, but he couldn't rely on luck. This could never happen again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
